Darius, P., Breuer, J., Kruschinski, S., Loecherbach, F., Riedl, J., & Stier, S. (2026). Election research in the age of regulated data access under the EU Digital Services Act. Internet Policy Review. https://doi.org/10.14763/2026.1.2080
Summary
This paper assesses how the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) is reshaping researchers’ ability to study online election communication. After years in which platform data was withdrawn or commercialised — undermining empirical work on campaigns and political discourse — the DSA has pressured major platforms to (re-)establish access to “public” data through APIs and dedicated portals. The authors survey and comparatively evaluate these new access mechanisms, analysing their scope, conditions, and eligibility rules, and argue that the design of each regime materially shapes what kinds of election research are feasible. Positioned within political communication and computational social science, it engages ongoing debates about platform governance, transparency, and researcher access.
Key Contributions
- Maps the post-DSA data access landscape as it pertains to election communication research.
- Identifies practical and methodological challenges of working under regulated data access regimes.
- Offers guidance for navigating the new APIs and portals, and flags where further regulatory or platform action is required.
Methods
Review and comparative analysis of the data access modalities that major online platforms have established in response to DSA requirements, with a focus on their relevance and usability for election communication research. The comparison spans API design, available data fields, and access/eligibility procedures across platforms.
Findings
- Platforms differ substantially in how they implement DSA-mandated public data access, including in API design, the data fields exposed, and the procedures for obtaining access.
- Eligibility for access is unevenly distributed across researcher communities, raising concerns about equity and reproducibility.
- Current access regimes leave significant gaps for studying campaigns, political advertising, and election-related discourse.
Connections
This paper sits at the centre of the platform-governance-data-access literature and speaks directly to work evaluating the practical realities of DSA-era research access, such as Rieder2026-pp, Rieder2025-ju, Bruns2026-yv, Bechmann2026-dr, and de-Vreese2026-zx. Its concerns about API design and researcher eligibility connect to studies of data infrastructure and reproducibility including Murtfeldt2025-wu, Tonneau2025-bv, and Freelon2024-sc, while its election-communication focus links it to applied platform studies of campaigns and political discourse such as Pierri2025-hm and Votta2025-xz.